Time to do the old “rough and fluff”

If you are confused about lawn care, come to one of my FREE lawn care classes. They are being held on every Saturday morning during April at 10 AM at the Hewitt’s Garden Center on Rt. 20 in Westmere. Learn all the steps you need (or don’t need) to have the best lawn ever.

Doing the rough and fluff

The weather this spring is sure making it hard to get to get outside and clean up the yard. When the snow finally melted the rain began. Once things dry out a bit, hopefully this weekend, we can tackle the first step in lawn care. The “rough and fluff”. Raking not only makes the lawn look much better…there are other benefits as well.

Here’s what the lawn looks like before I start.

And after raking

Raking to prevent diseases
Raking fluffs up the grass allowing it to dry out and warm up which helps prevent fungal diseases like snow mold. Fungal diseases thrive on damp, compressed blades of grass.

Letting all those spruce needles and cones decay into the lawn will make the soil acidic. I can’t get every one but every bit that gets removed helps. As you can see, there is a lot of debris…this from a portion of the front yard.

Can your soil pass the acid test?
It is also a good time (if you didn’t get a chance in fall) to do some pH tests to see if you need to apply lime to the lawn. I decided to test the soil in three different places; the front lawn, the veggie garden and out under some pines where moss grows.

Why is soil pH important?
Over time ALL soils gradually become acidic. Rotting grass clippings, leaves and other organic debris contribute to soil acidification. Even the lawn food that you use helps increase the soil’s acidity level over time. Acid rain has a hand in the process as well. Acidification happens more quickly in sandy soils than in clay based soils. Acidification of soil is a natural process, and many plants actually prefer soil that’s slightly acidic. Unfortunately grass isn’t one of them.

Acid soil ‘binds up’ nutrients
As the soil becomes more acidic, the bacteria and other microscopic organisms that dwell in the soil start to die off. These are the organisms your grass needs to convert naturally occurring nutrients (or nutrients that you apply in the form of lawn food) into forms that your lawn’s roots can absorb. Acidity also impedes osmosis or the ability of the lawn to absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil. If you’ve ignored soil pH for several years, you may have the impression that your favorite lawn food isn’t working as well as it used to. This is due to increased soil acidity. Lime also provides important nutrients calcium and magnesium for the lawn. You’ll find that if you correct the pH of the soil, you won’t have to feed your lawn as often.

Here I’m taking a sample…notice that I’m taking the soil from a couple of inches below the surface. I’m using a spoon so that the acid on my fingers won’t throw off the test.

Here’s my three samples ready for testing

This isn’t rocket science.
Here’s what is needed to do the tests. A soil test kit, soil and distilled water. You must use distilled water since tap water, softened water, well water and bottled water have a pH value of their own that will throw off the test.

There are lines on the little test tube that comes in the kit. Following the directions, put soil in the tube up to the first line. Next you open the little capsule of powder and carefully put it into the tube. It will look like this.

Then fill the tube to the top line with distilled water. Put the cap on and shake until it is well blended. Set the tube on a flat surface and let it settle. Here’s how my three tests came out.

The two on the right from the veggie garden and front lawn came out about neutral with a pH of 7.0. This is just fine so I won’t need to take any action there.

The test on the left from under the pines came out acidic…about pH 6.0. This make sense since there is moss growing there (moss loves acid soil) and I know I’ve never applied lime to that area. If I want to correct the pH under the pines, I’d need to apply lime. How much lime you need to apply depends on the pH change you’re trying for. To bring that area from a pH of 6.0 to the 7.0 that lawns prefer, I’ll need to apply 40 lbs. of pelletized lime per 1,000 sq. ft. of lawn. If the area tested 5.0 instead of 6.0, I’d need 40 lbs. per 500 sq. ft. to get it to 7.0 The more acidic the soil, the more lime it takes. This information is included in the test kit.

Once you get the required amount of lime on the lawn, it will take 6 to 8 weeks to fully alter the pH of the soil. Do a follow-up test in fall to see how you did and apply more lime if the test indicates you need to. Then it should be several years before you need to check and adjust the soil’s pH again.Thanks for the read.